Just An Average Citizen?
by MaraquaGreen
Summary: Jason Todd just can't understand what is so special about an "ordinary" person, so Bruce makes him look at life from their perspective. Sadly, Jason's subject is a girl, who might just change his dark world to something better, and help him realize that the small things of life matter, or she will ruin his understanding of much of the world. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

"YOUR A WORTHLESS SCUM! YOU KNOW THAT?" She flung everything she had hysterically with all her might and stamina that she worked so hard to build up. She had a big arsenal of knifes, and one by one she threw them all. Her costume was ragged and torn, her once shiny hair was matted with dirt and grit. Once she finished, she made needles of ice from her palms, and that arsenal would never end. Red Hood gave a shallow scoff as he easily dodged everything she threw. Throw after throw, swing after swing, nothing seemed to work. He knew she was letting her emotions cloud her head, but even then her aim was pretty impressive. He spoke before thinking, and his tone held a small quiver of kindness and concern.

"You'll tire out in a few more minutes..."  
"AAAAAGGGGGGHHHH! YOU WANNA BET?" She started attacking with a new, more energized fist and spirit, one Red Hood didn't know she had. Probably from Aqualad. He sighed, then immediately stopped and regretted it. What was tugging on his stone-cold heart? Had he just felt remorse, even after so much time? It was her turn to smirk. She heard it, the little bit of gentleness in his voice. It reminded her of the old days, but that was lost, gone forever, and he had broken all the roads himself. "Still haven't forgotten have you? Those forbidden feelings, those promises. Well, I hope you forget everything, because you can't turn back that easily, Jason." Her tone of mock, her tone of sarcasm, it just wasn't real. He heard a little hint of hesitation in her voice, something he would never miss. Ever. She got a little past his remarkable defense, and got many little, sharp cuts. The slicing never seemed to end, and with each little cut, she seemed to fight harder and harder. The piercing, frigid needles stung his skin at even the slightest contact, and she was aiming at his heart. They bit through his skin and left goosebumps and blood staining his black leather jacket. His sleeves were torn, and he guessed she tipped some with poison because of the searing pain he felt in his legs.

"Its time to end this." He growled, and he took out his shotgun. She stood still, and 2 long swords suddenly appeared in her bloody hands. "Whatever you want." Her black eyes shot fierce glares, and they both charged...

…...A Long Time Back...

"Jason. You have to understand." Bruce growled.

"Ughhhh...What?" Jason impatiently looked up from his laptop. He was tired of "Mr. Wayne's" everyday discipline rules.

"Stand up and get off the computer first."

"Hmph." He abruptly stood from his chair, letting it roll until it banged against his black desk. "Now what?" The defiance in his eyes was piercing and he didn't look away for one moment.

Bruce shot back flames too. "Come with me. I need to show you something." The two walked through the hallways of the mansion, their footsteps echoing through the big rooms and stairs. They stopped when they reached the library, and walked to the 31st isle, 15th book. Briefly pausing, Bruce tugged on it, and a spot on the floor moved to reveal a set of black metal stairs that twisted deep into shadows. Quickly striding down the stairs, both Jason and Bruce eventually reached a huge screen showing all the reports and statuses of sighed, rubbed his eyes, and then turned to Jason. His usual emotionless, sharp business-like tone stung through the damp air of the cave.

"Do you know why we stop villains?"

Jason paused a bit, then replied nonchalantly. "Sure I do. To help the helpless."

"Why do we need to protect them?"

"Cuz they can't work hard enough to protect themselves."

"Wrong."

"Cuz they need heroes to look up to?", Jason guessed.

Bruce persisted with the point he was trying to make. "You really have no idea, do you?..."

Jason was not amused, and his clear expression showed that. He didn't care, really. The real fun was the thrill of kicking butt and being called "The Boy Wonder".

"There is a reason that we go out and keep the citizens from danger. The average person, their life might be small, but it is...precious...in a way I can't explain." The millionaire's eyes lowered, with a little sparkle of passion and tenderness. Jason knew he really cared. Jason just didn't exactly what got Bruce so enthusiastic and passionate about the 'mission', or the 'plan'. He just didn't understand. Nonetheless, he was still …...unamused.

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"I am going to give you a subject. An important one, that you will have to study. You will have to know their troubles, passions, and most of their details."

"So you want me to STALK somebody?" Jason was in shock.

Bruce gave a sly remark, "The idea is convenient, gives you a lot to learn, we have the technology, and even better, I won't have to be involved for one second. Their ideals will give you a sense of the ideals and life of an average person."

"Wait, wait, wait...you still don't get it...I'M GOING TO STALK SOMEONE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS! HOW IS THAT A GOOD IDEA?"

"Now, now, Jason. Its not that big of a deal..." Bruce added with a smirk, then he walked away, bluntly stating something about having to work.

I KNEW IT! Something was TOTALLY WRONG with where he was going! Jason eye was twitching in anger, his fists were balled up. The mere thought of doing something so creepy was just... insane! I mean STALK someone? Jason wasn't keen on the fact at all. Bewildered and knowing he couldn't do anything about it, Jason sighed and went back upstairs to the buzzing computer in his room.

So Whaddya guys think? I'm just starting, and im still pretty bad, but this one will get interesting quicker than my other one...or more like quicker than i usually write. i struggle with good details, but i hope i do good enough for you!

PLEASE comment and review! it will make my WHOLE day!

**Thanks! MaraquaGreen**

**LUV YA ALL!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Thankfully, Jason didn't have to start his new "duties" too soon, so he took his time relishing his last little bit of happy days before. Bruce, unknownst to Jason, was making sure this subject was "compatible" with Jason. He had a list of things in mind. Well, she has to be relatively "fun"... Hmmm, I wonder how women do "matchmaking" so quickly... Then an idea came to Bruce, and he briskly walked over to the big blue holographic screen. He pressed a few buttons, then he gave the orders,  
"Call Barbara."  
"Calling." The electronic voice replied. First there were a few buzzing noises, then the ringing came, and finally, Barbara Gordon's voice.  
"Bruce? What's up?" Barbara casually asked.  
"Nothing much Barbara, I just have a small favor." A smirk creeped up on Bruce's face.  
"Sure! What do you need."  
"I need you to find someone compatible... for a certain person."  
"Oooohhh...So you need some love-making! I got it, but just tell me one thing... for who?" Barbara was suddenly very excited and inquisitive about this new "favor" Bruce was asking about. I mean, there are few girls who wouldn't be excited...Right?  
"Jason. I'm leaving you to your work, and expecting you to choose very well."  
"Why the sudden romantic flair?"  
"Let's just say it gets ... Very boring around here." To Barbara he was just maybe a little drunk or action craving, but either way this deal was too good to pass.  
"I'm really sure you'll be happy with my choice don't worry." Barbara assured Bruce.  
"I already sent you requirements for the girl. Get started. I have to go. Bye."  
"Yup! By-" it was no point, Bruce hung up a while ago. That man never had any time for anything, did he.  
Barbara wasted no time in getting to business, so she got out of her kitchen and strode over to her desk and opened her laptop. It purred and hummed, as if giving a greeting, then the smooth hd screen flashed with the colors of Barbara's background image. Within a second she was looking at the list, not too big or small, but really frank. She guessed it didn't really matter, but if Bruce was this frank, then he really had no idea how to choose a girl. Barbara skimmed it, and picked up a few important tips, she had to be from An earth where there were no superheroes living, no powers, and of course a girl who would have a positive impact on our little friend. She linked her computer to the batcave's, and started looking at one particular earth that had no evidence of any super heroes, so she checked it out.  
"Let's see... hmmm...Age range 12 to 14 cuz Jason is 13... Definitely female... smart and proficient level in academics... from the US... And... Here we GO!" Barbara jumped in excitement at the big list of girls and started the long analysis of people. After a hundred hours, a thousand clicks, and a million no's, Barbara had found the girl. There were Sarahs and Kates, and even the Helgas, but none of them seemed to have that perfect touch to fit Jason. Then she came by Barbara knew it was perfect. had unbelievably thick almost black hair that shone more dark brown in sunlight, and her eyes were ebony black that glimmered with a concealed tint of deep hazel in her irises. Her nose was cute to Barbara, even though it wasn't petite or perfect. This girl was pretty tall, like about 5' 5", but she had absolutely NO curves. She was almost a flat rectangle, but was blessed with little growth, so she wasn't completely behind. She did have small dots, almost unseeable but they were there, on her forehead. Barbara realized they were pimples and was thankful this girl washed her face everyday to get rid of most of them, and was really relieved with Tara's personal hygene. Of course Barbara wanted to see the girl's physical features, but what really made her excited and happy before she thought about Tara's looks was the personality description.

Person: Tara Rizvi

Gender: Female Age: 12 Heritage: Indian Country of Birth: USA  
Personality Description: Lacks self-esteem, loyalty till death to people she trusts, loves to bring happiness to others, only likes to keep friends that are close, extremely passionate towards friends and family, tries to help people in pain but has difficulty, hides any romantic feelings because of a need to be "single and free".

Lacks self-esteem; Jason was full of pride! Loves to bring happiness to others; Jason only cares for himself! Those were 2 things that were meant to be opposite, it was pretty good so far. They also had good similarities, like keeping friends that are close, and even though Jason only ever felt it rarely, they were both passionate to the ones they love.  
Now, the only problem was being able to see more than a picture. Barbara e-mailed the information to Bruce, and the minute he got it, he was amazed at Barbara's good choice. Women really do have...instincts. Without wasting another minute, Bruce opened the trans-universal portal, and dove right in. At first there was darkness and only the sound of air whizzing past, but then there was light, and an aerial view of a neighborhood, rapidly coming closer and closer into view. There were many houses, some across each other and some back to back, but there was only one house that had the lights off. Perfect timing to go to a party, isn't it. Bruce thought. As he kept diving closer and closer to the house, he scanned the surroundings, pulled out his grapple gun, and shot it at the chimney. Once he got close enough to swing from the rope, he swung his legs to the right, steering him into an open window on the second floor of the house. crouching through the slim opening, he landed right in the middle of the kitchen. He strode down the hallway, and got to the door with lots of stickers, and school pictures and drawings on it. It was too obvious this was her room. When he got into the room, he saw 2 beds. Hmm... she has siblings... It didn't matter anyways, because he picked up a strand of hair, and put it into the camera's DNA reader. When Tara's hair was scanned, it gave a small beep, signaling that from now on, it would only show the person with this specific DNA when it broadcasted its video. Bruce stuck 2 in each of the top-left corners of the room so he could project a 3D image. There was a window in her room too, so Batman slid out of it, then landed on the ground and pressed the button that was connected to the portal. It slurped him out of Tara's dimension, then he reappeared in the Batcave. He changed back into regular clothes and went to do...whatever he does, but more importantly, Jason was getting closer and closer to the day he had to meet his (shudder) specimen.


	3. Chapter 3

Oh. My. God. No way. He just couldn't believe it. It had been at least 3 weeks since he and Bruce had talked about _observing_ someone from a world without heroes. But somehow, Bruce hadn't forgotten and moved on to more important things, and Jason was going to start tonight. Jason even had a note sheet in which he had to mark specific types of _observations_. The paper was divided into 5 parts, each asking to write do what happens when the following situations come up. The situations were _Anger being directed at them, Them showing signs of distress or discomfort, Pressure being directed at them, What makes them happy, _and _Habits._ Jason really felt so frustrated about the whole situation, _I mean I can't believe he wants me to stalk someone!_ He thought about this all during school, and even in Math class when snobby, old Mr. Evans screeched at him for being a distracted "whippersnapper". But could Jason really help it? I mean waiting to see who you were going to look at for the next couple of , well Jason didn't really know how long (probably a long time), was kind of making him anxious. Who would he be stuck with? He hoped not a girl. Girls were beings of complicated messes, who never seemed to make their minds, and even once they have, they seem to change it the moment after. Jason didn't want to tangle himself in such matters After school, he tried to delay his time in getting home by telling Alfred he wouldn't take the limo, he would walk, and by not really walking home, but more like gradually gliding home and "appreciating the nature around him". He looked at the trees and flowers and things, and not before had he really looked at them closely. If the manner he looked at them was calmly and not urgently, as if trying to find something extravagant, he might have found the simple beauty of plants, but with Jason, the probability was small. Once Jason got home, he kicked his converse shoes off his feet and strided up the large double staircases leading to the second floor where his room was. He opened his door and flung the backpack on his bed. His room was such a contrast to the perfect and "royal" mansion. You saw polished marble columns, and red velvet carpets running through the middle of the auburn oak wood floors in the hallway, then his room, with red and black striped walls and posters with rebel themes. He sat on his rolly-chair, next to his desktop computer in the corner, and opened the computer. Immediately a blue window popped up on the screen, and Bruce's face appeared in the middle.  
"Nice _walk,_ Jason? I hope you did, because now its time for you to work." "What am I gonna do first?" Jason sighed, trying to hide the annoyance in his glare. "I'm gonna show you _her_ first." Bruce started to busy himself in bringing up the picture and data, and Jason was really annoyed. _Aww dammit! Dude are you serious? A girl! Why?_ His fists tightened and his jaw clenched in rage. If there was anyway to get back at _Mister Wayne_, then definitely would. He shifted his gaze once again to the buzzing computer monitor, and saw _this girl's_ picture already shining on the screen. This had to be the worst sort of embarrassment made possible.

He looked at the photo first, noticing the slightly timid stance and the deep ebony eyes. The hair was in a braid, clearly made hastily by making a ponytail and braiding the end portion of it, and her fingers were knitted together, as if trying to recover whatever bit of elegance she had that was screwed up by the odd strands of hair that suck out of the tied mess on the back of her head. Her back was slightly sagging and relaxed, and her face expression was pleasant and light, so she looked like an overall decent person. He noted her height, 5' 6" (which was annoyingly close to his 5'7" height), and her birthday (which on the other hand was a good She was wearing jeans, a black hoodie with the sleeves scrunched up halfway to her elbows, and a hair tie on her right wrist. He noticed the hoodie was a little loose, and covering up all of the details of her front, making her look curveless. _Yeah Jason, think about the curves...ugh..._ He guessed that was part of the "unconfidence". He looked down at the list of personalities and saw "unconfidence" somewhere again, and didn't look more at the list. He had a pretty good idea, right? _Huh, she's basically a pushover. Whatever. This is gonna be stupid._ He didn't care to look at the rest and closed it. On the desktop he found the small blue window still there, except now with a note on it. _We're starting today after homework._ And that was it... they were gonna start.  
The session started an hour or so later. Jason didn't really care anymore. He just wanted to get this crap over with. So when Bruce came to his room and plugged in a small hard drive into his computer, he was ready for the worst. _Ok, so the time is like 5pm ish and she must be doing, stuff? Whatever, I don't really care. _Jason sighed, cracked his knuckles, and leaned back in his chair.

The screen buzzed on, and after a couple of seconds he saw her for the first time. Her hair was swinging side to side, and her arm was looped around something invisible (the screen didn't show) while she was skipping happily. Her eyes sparkled and she had a wide toothy grin. With boots and a north face too. He altered the settings so he could see who she was skipping with, and saw her friend.

She started to giggle, "Hey Christina! Lets go to the fields and sing happy songs about love together! Just like in the old, romantic movies!" Christina started snickering too and they both started to trip over each other. Both their ponytails whipped around everywhere because of the deranged way they were laughing. Whenever one was falling, the other one's foot seemed to catch them, and vice versa. _Humph. She so friggin clumsy. Ugh._ Jason hadn't really heard about the old timer movies having couples singing in the fields, so he didn't know what she was talking about until it occurred to him, _Oh. It must be an __**Indian**_ _movie. ha. ha. ha...That's one of the languages I didn't learn._ Jason was surprised that he remembered that from her info card, since he really didn't care at all, or shouldn't care. He turned on the setting for seeing where she was, and he saw a school field. Tara and her friend were running all over the school field, more specifically in the soccer field. Tara started to do the kan-kan with her friend Christina. Jason just facepalmed and sighed. His life right now had been an improvement from when he was on the streets, but this was worse than what he had expected from living with a billionare._. _She suddenly stopped and elbowed her friend. "Owwww!" Christina loud whispered. "Why did we stop?" Tara pointed to something, eyes wide with... fear? "Dude," Tara explained, "I don't want to be seen like this infront of total strangers!" "Omg Tara relax! Who cares what they think!" "I kinda do..." Christina gave Tara a look, then gave Tara a small smile. "Ok, fine then. Just for you, I'm gonna take you to Lincoln field instead". Tara grinned like crazy and gave Christina a bear hug. "Thank you Cris!" Then Tara fast walked with Christina on this hiking trail. They walked side by side, arms linked, for a while, then Jason noticed an echo of footsteps coming from someone other than Christina or Tara. Jason was then alert, and since he couldn't see anything behind or in front of the two girls, it was agitating him even more. _Stalker? Maybe, it's definetly not a man older than 16. The footsteps are too light. They are holding a bag on their left shoulder. I feel it in the exaggerated weight in the left footstep._ Jason kept calculating who it could be, and as if to ease his mind, the person jumped on to Christina and Tara. A girl with auburn hair and a yellow/black striped feather in it completely knocked Tara over, but Christina was lucky enough not go get the full blow from this girl. Tara rolled away and quickly stood up. "AARGH!", Tara stomped her foot. "You got me GOOD, Avery!" Tara charged at Avery and bulldozed her over. Avery rolled over like a bowling pin and landed on the grass of the field. All of them were laughing, and gasping in between for air, Tara was trying to fit in a couple of apologies. "Omg! HAHAHAHAH! I didn't want to …HAHAHAHAHA!...Do that, Avery, sorry!" "Geez! I didn't know you were that mad!" "No I wasn't! I just thought you were ready for the push, and then you weren't and then you fell, then I felt bad, and then and then and then... AWW YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY!" Avery started snickering, and started rolling on the grass again. Christina was now on the ground too, giggling like crazy. Tara tried pouting at first, but she couldn't stay mad at her friends for long, so she just gave in to the laughing and collapsed on the ground too. All three stayed like that for a while or so, just chuckling hysterically, but then they all gradually stopped, and Christina pulled out her IPod. Through the screen, Jason scoffed. _Wayne Corp. makes much better tech than that crap. _They all started listening to songs and talking about... well stuff. Jason couldn't put a theme on what they talked about. It would start as hanging out in town center, to malls, to what colors look good on what skin tones, to cultures, to Christina being mexican, and Tara being Indian, and other stuff. The only conversation that interested Jason (in terms of filling the sheet), was the one about the holidays. Avery started off. "Ya just can't get enough of the holiday spirit, ya know? Its like you meet grandma, and grandpa, and big fat Santa, and yeah!" Christina continued, "Yea, like my family does, like, a get together I think like, every 4 years or something. So we always do the get together around in like, the summer." Tara smiled and let out a little sigh, "I like the holidays cuz' my family always gets together, and we party, and play video games, and just do stuff. Even if it's a little boring, it gets special just because we're family." Tara just lay down on the grass with a small thump, and bluntly said, "Stuff." There was a little comfortable silence, then Tara asked with a suggestive shrug,"Home, guys?" They trudged over the Lincoln Field to their school field, then passed the baseball part of the field, and the soccer part of the field, to a small side walk of concrete, which lead them to a fairly calm street, with the exception of a couple of cars. They started to walk along the street, Christina slipped her IPod out of her pocket and played random music while softly singing along to it, Tara looked around, still absorbing her surroundings even though she had been there for 12 years. Avery just seemed mildly distracted, by something or the other. That was it. Just three girls, strolling with their hands connected. All seemed a little tired, probably from the school day (and carrying the extra weight of their backpacks), and sort of sleepily glided from place to place, instead of individual steps. It was at this time that Jason decided to just focus in on the girl. It was all he really needed, right? After flicking a couple switches on the computer, he could only see her, Tara. It looked like Tara was trying to partially lift up Christina while dragging her boots behind her at the same time. She was clearly listening to someone, her face expression told so. She listened a **lot**. It was almost like she had no voice at all. Jason guessed that was good, but shouldn't she contribute too? Every now and then, he heard a small sound of agreement, or sympathy, but nothing else. Tara would also smile every now and then, and squeeze Christina's arm and give a little happy giggle. Then at last, she took a breath in with her mouth and lifted her head up, and Jason thought she was going to finally speak, but his expectations were not met. She slouched back down, and didn't say a word, not one. Just sort of stood there intently listening to whatever crap (as Jason liked to think of it) her friend was giving her. Then Jason thought about himself. No one listened to his crap. His 'friends' at school wouldn't understand much, and every one in Young Justice was too sweet, like Miss Martian, or to goofy, like Beastboy, to really listen to much before they overreacted. The others in his "team", like Superboy, didn't really listen to much anyway. Not like he needed anyone to listen to his crap anyways. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. What did it matter. He had everything he ever needed, everyone else would always be... irrelevant. The sounds of shuffling boots and laughing abruptly stopped, and his headphones remained silent. He pushed back up in his chair and leaned in to the computer screen. Tara unlinked her arm from the invisible arm of her friend, and smiled slightly and nodded, before jogging away to where ever she had to be, probably home. She swiftly weaved her way up the staircase, and swung her door open. The moment her foot set on the welcome rug of her house, the screen went black, and resumed its original way of going about, with internet surfing windows popped up. His eyebrow raised slightly, but his question was soon answered. There was a 20 minute minimum for him, they had talked about it the previous day. Satisfied it was over, but horrified he had to watch everyday, Jason continued with his homework (which of course took only a matter of 15 minutes, considering he was the smartest kid in his grade).


	4. Chapter 4: A Moment from the Future

Red lights, wailing sirens, and a couple of masked criminal vigilantes. That's all she could think as of now. It was a regular day when she was sitting at the leaf green kitchen table with Beast boy. Then there were 2 big dents on the metal garage door. They became larger, and larger, and the banging noises grew to harsh screams of the grey steel. Tara freaked. Her first objection: guard Garfield. She grabbed the measly, shivering, Garfield and while sprinting, fiercely whispered in his ear, "Are you confident in this right now?" He shook even more.  
"No. I'm... I'm sorry... I can't."

Tara's skin and flesh exterior turned into steel and flame. This lioness wasn't going to force her cub into this strife. She confirmed his insecurity from the naive hopelessness dripping from his voice. "Shh... That's fine." She pulled on the back of his shirt with more ferocity now. "But listen carefully. You have to hide. Now. Hide in the vents, a closet, a cabinet, anything, but stay small and out of the field range." He nodded, panic seeping into his blue irises.

She released her iron grip from his shirt, and pushed him forward, urging him onward, and he stumbled out and toward the vent opening. Her relief flooded her, but the heavy pounding on the door was becoming more urgent, and soon before she could get far enough away, whoever was outside slipped in a small flashing disc, and flames erupted from the ground engulfing the floor in red and orange that licked at anything in reach. Burning hot pieces of hard, stainless steel flew and soared past her head, whipping up gusts of scorching winds, and one of those darned scorching winds showered a billion of those metal pieces. And to her horror, one of those pieces was not so small at all. A sharp, scalding, kitchen knife sized metal piece was flung directly at her mid thighs and cut through her jeans into her scarlet flesh. It didn't carve too deep, only about half an inch, but it certainly stayed in her leg horizontally, creating a cozy bed in her flesh right where it sliced. Her eyes popped in pain, and she saw spots circling her eyes. She pressed her hand against the wall, staggering to the hallway, trying to put herself out of sight, but as she was a quarter of the way in, the trouble appeared. Mr. Freeze appeared out of the ash and fire, powering his guns up. it was impressive how much heat he could stand; the conditions of his lab were quite the opposite. He stomped his way in, knocking over the table. He planted himself in the center of the room, where everything, including she, was visible. Every doggone point of the hallway was in his plain sight. Tara noticed his eyes flicker over her, then to the green cheetah running towards the vent. She needed to get out of there quick. Before she cause someone or something harm.

The icy stare stabbed at her again. She made a run for it, limping with great force, and wincing each time her foot slammed on the floor.

"Beastboy! Smaller! NOW!" The green cheetah looked back and its eyes widened. He changed into a human out of shock.

"Tara he's coming for you! What are you going to change into?"  
"It doesn't matter! Just GO!"  
"I'm not leaving you.." His voice seemed more paranoid than defiant and brave. She glared, and her knuckles turned white from her fist tightening. It wasn't the time for any argument.  
"I can handle myself. Go." Tara's final statement stood alone. There was no rejecting it, and she made that quite clear. She felt the heavy thumping of 's solid titanium boots slamming on the ground, creeping through the kitchen with the shattered overhead lamps swaying slightly. Beast Boy looked absolutely terrified. The thumping increased in pace, and Beast Boy became paler and paler with each footstep. Tara looked behind her, and there, about 6 feet away, was the big icicle, with blue tubes weaving in and out of his suit filled with cryogenic chemical pumping through them like blood coursing through veins. Beast Boy froze by the sheer force of his stare. Mr. Freeze was amused. Dark humor was pasted on his face in the form of a smirk, and the chill coming out from his body created eerie mist that surrounded him like a veil. Pools of sweat formed in her palms. She glanced backwards for a moment, and saw Beastboy still firmly planted in his spot. "MOVE! NOW!" She tried a last resort to move Beastboy, but it was to no avail. Mr. Freeze cackled, "Now, now there child, it is not you I need, so don't fret your little mind on it. I'm here for the real deal today, not just petty humans like you." She couldn't say or scream anything to Beast Boy anymore, so she scrambled a bit and slid her way over to the dazed green boy. She looped one arm around his waist and used her one leg and the wall to push them slowly deeper into the hallway. She grunted when she slid her limp leg over the floor. There was a bloody trail behind her. Her head pounded. Being the only non-hero on in the base, she wasn't trained for this situation, and the loss of blood and carrying the weight of Beast Boy was too overwhelming. She was going to pass out. Soon. The idiot in her hold was still staring, dumbfounded. His soft, sky blue eyes were clearly no match for the arctic-cold ones that were piercing daggers into the poor 11 year old. She could feel her sweat slowly turning into frost on her skin, ready to writhe in frigid streams all over her body, encircling her knees and strangling them until I became crippled and the bones would split like a mirror shatters into a sharp shards of glass. Panicked, she opened her eyes wider and looked at her knees; they were just bruised. The hallucinations were coming in now. She had to do something out of instinct or make a plan. The pale man stepped closer and closer, the ground shaking under his mere presence. The vision blurred in her eyes. Every part of her alive mind screamed in maniacal protest because it knew she couldn't leave Beast Boy. Her lioness energy was wearing out. She stopped slugging her body and Beast Boy down the end of the hallway, and let her arms rest on the floor, the nice, comfy floor. Sooner than she could calculate, the ice man was kneeling next to her nearly unconscious body. "But on the other hand, you could prove useful in a nice hostage situation". He spoke like these were matters of how putting carrots into his stew would make it all the better. Who knows what his life has been like. His left knee was tilted towards her, his fingers were flexing and cracking their knuckles. She ripped her eyes open from their half asleep mode and kept them neutral. In reality they were alert and glaring at him. The chill she felt fanning out from him was good enough to keep her awake. Up close, Mr. Freeze looked quite old and wrinkled, yet happily trapped in the never ending use of his astronaut-like suit.

Locked up under a heavy metallic costume forever more, never able to feel the world around him, and always under the looking glass of his dome shaped helmet.

Wait. That's it! The suit was his life, literally, and the tubes filled with blue cryogenic material were the veins that carried something as equally as important as blood.

The next few moments happened utterly slowly. Her being filled with new-found spirit guided her hand to the piece of metal half an inch deep in her thigh, and weeded it out, the cut painfully swelling up from being exposed to open air. He reached his arms out to snake them across her waist (and probably hoist her over his shoulder), and into sight came a nice, juicy vein making an arch from the top of his shoulder blade to his back. Hopefully this one was feeding his spinal cord. His arms extended more out, seemingly more slow because of the weight of the metal, and the tube was displayed to a greater degree. She knew it was now or never. He grinned with greater conviction and leaned towards her, and as his hands lowered, she lunged her slender bloodstained arms forward. With both hands gripping the slick metal with the sharp side up, she swiftly snuck it under the arch of the glowing tube and thrust it upwards. To her satisfaction, the tube was sliced neatly in half and the cryogenic liquid was surging out of the thrashing tube at an adequate pace. The eerily artificial elixir splattered onto 's hi-tech glass helmet. He really should have installed windshield wipers or something other of the sort. Time finally flowed at regular pace (actually a tad bit faster because she was having fun watching), and Tara would have laughed herself to stitches at the sight of this man flailing if it wasn't for the sudden strength-withdrawal and the shocking amount of crimson on the floor, donning on her the horror of tremendous blood loss (at least for a normal human). Her eyes started to droop again, and seeing Robin swoop out of the unusually large vent pipe (it was enough to fit a healthy 5'6" Robin with more access space) was enough to ensure her that it would be all right for little Beast Boy. M'gann wouldn't have to worry about her younger brother. Now Tara could rest, whether in one or multiple pieces. Letting black spots cloud her sight and her eyelids be glued by fatigue, she thought how the world must have been thankful to god (for Christian's) for the adrenaline rush, or in a Muslims case thankful to Allah, or in a Hindu's case thankful to Ram, or in a Buddhist's case...

8:00 am, 2 days later

The first thing she felt was a light linen sheet draped over her, comfortably enveloping her in pure white. She was laying on her side. Tara's eyes were urged open by the familiar, honey-colored bars of sunlight shining through the shutters of the window. She could hear the distant chirping of the blithe birds, sailing on the clouds that were suspended on an open, blue sea. She heard laughter buzzing from outside, and propped herself up on the bed with her elbows to see more. It was beautiful outside, with dogs and frisbees, strollers handled my jogging mothers and fathers. There were even picnickers, with their red and white checkered cloth. It was a pretty cliched sight. One that was probably being played in many towns on this nice, Saturday morning. Now being able to look from a higher point of view, she didn't only did she see through the window better, but also the overall view of her room. It was, conceivably, a hospital room, with 2 cabinets that reached halfway up the wall. One of the drawers was left slid out; it had bandages and band-aid boxes inside. She bet that the other drawers had water bottles, and stethoscopes and such. She thanked her lucky stars that there was no oxygen pipes going to her nose, no little beeping red line showing the exact electrical charge coming from her heart, and no IV tubes jammed an inch into the ample vein in her left arm. There was a large white board on the wall across from her, a good 9 ft away, which had notes written by blue, red, and green Expo markers. The large portion of it was in black marker; the times the nurse had listed she would visit and The notes were all different, but all of them meant the same thing, "Get better soon!". She then made an effort to make out the different handwritings scribbled on the white slate. Some were too tell-tale, like the one in green with messy writing that read, "I hope you feel BEARRY good when you wake up!". Beast boy would never change. And the one that stated its purpose BEARRY curtly, maybe even with a tad bit of disinterest ("Get well"), was plausibly Connor's.  
She kept deciphering, and laughing at the ones that had almost unnoticeable inside jokes hid in the messages. A sigh escaped her lips.  
The world is so beautiful.  
Her eyes slid shut, and she just listened to what was around her. Meditation did prove useful in some cases. She inhaled cherry blossoms, and baby powder and...BANG... an angry Jason. She opened one eye to see if it was really him. He paced right into the room, obscuring her view of the whiteboard. She really ought to have some better luck than this, right?  
She opened both eyes and straightened her back, then spoke calmly, "Hi." She knew this wouldn't go well. It never did.  
"Had a nice nap?" he mocked sarcastically, "This had to do with Beast boy. Explain" .  
"I asked him if he wanted to fight. He couldn't."  
"So you decided to play HERO and face ? You idi-"  
"No." She struggled to keep her voice low. He had already started fuming and narrowing his eyes at her. How she wished this boy had common courtesy. "I told Beast boy to hide. I told his vents, closet, cabinets, anything out of the range of the field. I told him to stay small..."  
"You still didn't answer me. What were you doing when Mr. Freeze came?" He was seething with anger, it literally boiled inside him.  
"The explosion sent metal my way. Metal that-"  
"Carved into your foot. That explains the gash." She nodded.  
"For someone like me, it hurt. A lot. I couldn't move quickly enough."  
"What about Beast boy? Where was he?" Jason's questions sounded more like commands.  
"He panicked. I'm guessing it was his first time. He wouldn't budge, so I didn't either."  
"You guarded him? You let him be WEAK? Tara, he is TRAINED for this! You should have let him have his shot!"  
"Oh really?" She sat up more straight in her bed and glared right back. "What if he didn't do anything and got frozen? What if he DIED because nobody found him?"  
"You KNOW we would have found him! Don't act like we're dumb!"  
"Jason, you can't take risks with people! You of ALL people should know that."  
"Yet you took a risk with yourself, right? You, a person who is HELPLESS, would take a risk, instead of BEAST BOY, a kid who actually has SOMETHING up his sleeve? That's one messed up point of view if Superheroes are supposed to put their lives out there for civilians."  
"Sure, I'm a civilian! I know that. I know I'm something much less than any of you are. That's why I would have put his life before MINE. He will grow up to become something more useful to the world than I will. He will save people,thousands and millions of them, so do you see how insignificant my little cut is in comparison?"  
"You don't understand," He sounded more impatient now. "You could have lost your leg! You could have died yourself! He had a better chance of survival."  
"What do you mean I could have lost my leg? Have you ever thought that maybe I'm just a teeny-weeny bit stronger than you think I am? A cut won't KILL me, Jason!"  
"It wasn't only the cut. When you cut the tube, some of the cryogenic chemical dripped into the cut. It was that same chemical that turned a regular scientist into a criminal. Imagine how dangerous it was when it had access to flesh." He looked at the floor. His voice started retracting, turning back to normal. He wasn't furious anymore, just cautious. "Depending on the time we got to you, you would have died, be in need of some sort of... bionic suit, a leg amputation to stop the spread of chemicals-"  
"Or I would have been caught early enough to be saved. Like you did." She spoke in a gentle voice. If he was softening up, she would too.  
"Yeah." His bangs slowly slipped down to his face, worn down. The fierce look in his eyes died away, his eyebrows lost their sharp fury, and the prominent, cutting features of his face diminished. Jason's crystal green eyes glinted with confliction. She wished she had green eyes.  
A small murmur was all it took to tick him off.  
"Maybe...If you amputated my leg..." she gave a breathy laugh, "..me and Arsenal would be better friends. Everything has a bright side."  
He clenched his fists and yelled, "NO! Stop joking! In this case, there would have been much more to lose." She flinched at the , and blinked her eyes close a bit longer than usual. His finger was perched in mid air, ready to spear her through the chest.  
"Beast boy didn't have a cut, Beast boy had a better chance of survival, he even had the animal instinct to break the ice if Mr. Freeze froze him." He hissed at her. "You have no reason to defend him, and not much solid reason for why you had to take the hit." She pulled up her knee (the one from her good leg) to her chest and hugged it. Her eyes were cast downwards, and her back was slumped.  
"You're forgetting how fragile he is. He's only 11, and he's... carefree. And, he doesn't have to stop being that way, but he doesn't know how to harness his instincts. He wasn't ready. And like I said before, he will save lives in the future, lives I wouldn't be able to save."  
"We should relocate him somewhere. If he isn't ready, he shouldn't stay with us." Tara looked at Jason in shock. He couldn't do that, could he? M'gann would never allow her brother to be moved!  
The knee popped back down on the bed, her hand pushing against the bed as if she was ready to stand. "Then it's hardly fair I get to stay at base, ", she spat."I don't even have powers!"  
"You only get to live there because staying at the Wayne Manor would have had a negative impact on you, seeing that living around only men clearly made you extremely uncomfortable. Anyways, if it hadn't been for Beast boy, you would have reached the trap door in the closet and used the Zeta Tube to get out." His arms were folded, his expression was certain. His decision was set in stone.  
"But Jason!" She felt as desperate as a teen trying to get a million dollar laptop. She knew raising her voice wouldn't help her, yet she did anyways."Look, when I said he wasn't ready, I also meant he needed more training. From anyone. Even you could train him, Jason!"  
"I don't have that kind of time. We can't keep worrying about him."  
"You also can't keep worrying about me! I can't stay at base. You said it yourself! I was in danger. When I think back to it, he was getting there, but it was the fact that I was going to possibly die, that held him back. The team just needs to train him more." Her voice drained of its loud exasperation. She whispered, soft and sweet. Forget about Beast boy being fragile, she knew one more hiss and she would crumble. He began again.  
"He's lucky to stay." Jason walked back to the door, this time seemingly less urgent and brisk. He had got his answer, whatever it was. His hand curled around the doorknob, yet Tara wasn't finished. She was mellow and placid in her words. No need to anger anyone for no reason.  
"Jason, wait."  
His head turned slightly, his chartreuse eyes watching her from the corner of his sight. His black hair stood still, framing his pale face. "Yes?" He didn't roar or hiss, thank heavens, but in fact he was quiet and humane, unlike the Jason she had seen many times earlier.  
"Listen, I didn't do what I did just because Beastboy would be more beneficial to Young Justice and the world, I only said that because it would be the right thing to say. I'm not part of your team, probably never will be, but I have to follow the rules anyways... every single action I do, everything I say has to be for the mission, the greater good." She swallowed any tension she had, and continued.  
"But I'm not a complete puppet. I was ready to give up my life for Beast boy because of M'gann, and his deceased mother. He's been here longer than I have, and with more time, he's been more loved here than I have. There is so much more to his life here than there is to mine. This is the wrong thing to say... but I believed in the value of his life and the family around him, and you might find it strange, but that led me to want to die for him. I mask the real purpose of willing to sacrifice my life with the 'right' one." She looked back up at him. He nodded, twisted the doorknob, and silently disappeared from the room.  
She didn't know it, but she had shoved whatever was set in stone.

HI guys! I just had a really good Idea and couldn't wait for it to get out here. This took me a loooong time, and i couldn't really do it fast enough because of school and stuff. This chapter was sort of a teaser for whats going to happen later on... hehehehe

yes, Tara and Jason are going to meet, and yes, tara will live in the yj base... SPOILERS! hehehehe

Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 5

Another awkward car ride to school. With Tara.

Jason REALLY hated his life.

Jason and Tara had been car-pooling together to school for the past month. That's right. Learning went to observing, which went to stalking (if it hadn't been already), which then concluded in actually bringing the damned girl to the Wayne Manor's doorstep.

It escalated quickly.

He remembered the first time she came in. Bruce opened the portal, ripped her out of the comfort of her bed, and brought her to their home. She had a lime green t-shirt on with red plaid pants. She didn't seem to give much thought on her pajamas. Her hair was a complete mess, something she would have panicked about, and the bags under her eyes had obviously emphasized the lack of sleep she had gotten over the past days.

Jason was locked out of the room, and she briefed very quickly about the situation, which Jason didn't know what it was about because there really was no "situation", or plan, regarding her. After a couple of minutes the door clicked open, but Jason looked inside to see she was gone.

"There's a time limit for people going into different universes," Bruce explained, "and we haven't found anything so far that will eliminate it, so I had to put her back before it was too late."

"And what would have happened if we exceeded the time limit?"

"Whatever happened to the scientist working in Wayne Enterprises who was dumb enough to break in and try it."

So Bruce worked on it in the spare time he got, by laying off on the parties (he was _especially_ sad to miss the extravagant ball at the Smith's), and did little tests on how much the time limit was. He got 10 minutes and 45 seconds every time, precisely, but he couldn't find a way to extend it. At least not alone.

Over the next 2 days, with Aquaman and Zatara, they pried at the time limit, and with Atlantean sorcery, magic, and just a wee bit of science, they figured out how to bring her here. A necklace would have been cool, but extremely stupid, considering the fact it would be so in sight and vulnerable. So they figured out something even better.

It was called "blood bond". Aqualad, carrying the blood of an Atlantean, which was needed for the time breaker formula, and carrying a little human blood from his father's side, which would make it easier for her body to take in, and therefore was perfect to be blood bonded with.

Aqualad himself had no problems. He (directly quoted) didn't mind a "tiny little sister". It was obvious he didn't know who he was donating his blood to. She was a tall girl of 5'4", and 12 years old (which was pretty grown up to Jason, seeing he was 12 too). Aqualad was 5'10", so he would only be a half foot taller, not the 4 feet taller he would have expected.

They disguised her stay to her parents by showing them the private school, Gotham Junior High, and convinced them to let her "board" at this school. No matter how unhappy her mother was with it, she agreed too. She got a half scholarship by the school, which made her father happy because of the money he had saved, and soon they went back to their home, only to send Tara back a month later for school. She had the most enormous suitcase Jason had seen in a while, and even though it was in the cold part of fall, she was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. The moment she stepped in through the door, 2 needles were precisely inserted into the fat veins on her arm, one taking blood, and the other giving Aqualad's blood. Then again, precisely a second later, Aqualad was injected with her blood. Then Zatara slammed both their skulls together (obviously not caring about the crudeness of his action), said an incantation, and then let go. She was just on the brink of falling over, when Aqualad caught her with one arm, peered at her face and said…. Something.

Something in a different language.

Something not in Atlantean.

Then she replied, except this time in Atlantean. They both started to talk at regular pace, then screaming words, then pulled back from each other and panicking, and eventually it ended with Aqualad holding Tara up in the air by her arms and screaming, "SISTER!", and Tara replying by screaming with equal loudness, "SIMBA!"

Aqualad seemed to snap out of his momentary deliriousness, and looked inquisitively at the strange girl hung in the air.

"Simba?"

She also appeared to be equally shaken and embarrassed at the first word that came from her mouth as a spontaneous reaction.

"You know what? Nevermind. It was just ..." She hesitated a bit, probably still a bit at shock of getting a new brother, then blurted out, "brain-spazzing."

"Spazzing?"

"I shouldn't even talk…" If it hadn't been for her naturally olive skin color, there would have crimson dripping from her face. She sighed and looked ready to face-palm." Well on the other hand, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too."

Her effortful distraction was a success.

Every time Tara talked, her voice sounded squished, seeing as she was still in the air with her shoulders slightly pushed up against her neck. Then there was a long silence, just Kaldur and Tara inspecting each other, and after 2 minutes, then he finally noticed her discomfort and put her down on the ground. Only for her to immediately drop and need Kaldur's arm.

They observed each other again. Except this time, more relaxed and they were closer together. Kaldur smiled, and Tara did too. They continued walking and engaging in small talk.

The best part was that Jason got it all on camera.

The really strange part of it was the fact that they, in reality, didn't look **anything** like the other. Kaldur was tall and very tan, had blue sparkling eyes, and whitish hair. She was also tall, but moderately tanned, with almost-black eyes, and hair that looked dark brown in intense sunlight, and black in the winter. Her nose was (as she thought) a little on the pudgy side, but still cute according to her friends. His nose was very prominent. Tara even pointed out a bit sadly that she wished her nose was like his. Them both side by side almost looked like exact opposites.

It was then that she started living with the Wayne family. It proved not a good idea. All the time she was extremely uncomfortable and a bit fidgety. After observing for 2 months, he could point out thousands of differences between his and her house. Hers was a cozy, medium sized suburban dwelling with the heavy smell of spices. His was a graceful royal mansion carved from the finest marble from Italy, plush red velvet carpets, towering Roman columns, and all sorts of famous and beautifully crafted art on the walls. In a sense, he felt a little bad about how she was so terrified of completely ruining something in the house, that she mostly remained locked up in her room, doing homework. But on the other hand, he enjoyed making her uncomfortable to the hair.

Then the annual St. Patricks party at the Wayne Manor came around. Guess who was the only guest invited but not present? Tara. So of course Jason needed to drag her out of the room to join! He **had **to be a gentleman and personally bring her to the party. He threw a tuxedo at her saying that Bruce needed her to come down there and say hi. At least for 5 minutes.

Jason stood there waiting, and when her door slowly slid open, she had the tux on and she looked really... like nothing. Nothing at all.

Jason gave her a black and green plaid fedora, with a green ribbon stripe and a large shamrock just at where the hat folded into the brim, and told her to tuck in all her hair, and after she did, he put the face corrector monitor to work on her. Was he was oh-so satisfied by the time it was finished. It made her look purer. It covered up anything on her forehead, evened out her lightish olive face color, yet kept the little look of a small face and the cute chin. He was going to bring her down there, but not as a girl, he would bring her down under the impression of a** boy. **She was fairly flat-chested enough for the tuxedo not to pop out too much, and compared to the other young girls at this party, no one would suspect a thing. As he shoved her toward the crowd of female teens, he leaned against the white washed walls that were just inches away from the big bunch of perfumed up lassies, and said, "Be careful ladies, Tyson's **very** shy." It was then that Tara realized what was happening, but it was too late to run back to the safety of her little room. There had been lots of changes in the regular prep run for "a girl". Instead of the dress, a tuxedo, instead of hair curlers there was a fedora, no make up except for skin toning, and the change of her name from Tara to Tyson. Even on the name, she wished it was something more unique. No offense to the name Tyson, it was a really good name (the nice high school volunteer in the ice cream shop down town was named that), but it was also the title of that chicken nugget company.

She barely had time to give an absurd look of question on her face before sucked into the swirling vortex of frilly, tight dresses and cherry-red lipstick. She didn't know Jason was capable of such evil.

One of the girls, in a dark purple dress, catwalked towards Jason and stayed there, casually talking (Tara knew it was really flirting, god did those hip-movements really give it away).

All of the young ladies circled around Tyson asking and asking all sorts of questions, and even slipping in what were supposed to be quiet comments, but he could hear them miles away.

"What is **this** new specimen?" Said the blonde with classy glasses and a plaid red dress with frills at the bottom that was layered with black, then white as the final and lowest layer.

"I think he's real cute!" Said the brunette with beautiful blue eyes and curled hair that complimented her sky blue dress.

"When's your birthday?" Said the African american girl with a white dress that looked awfully tight (probably because of the corset underneath), and a black head band slightly containing her afro.

"What's your type of lady?" Smiled the Asian girl in pigtails with a silky orange dress.

"Do you know how to dance?" Said the green eyed blonde with the flowing pink dress.

Then there was the girl at the back of the crowd in a nice hunter green dress with little highlights of a brighter green streaking down the dress. It was folded in such a way that Tara (or Tyson) could tell that if she twirled, it would do swirl around her. She was soft-spoken, and just uttered a small"Hi", before smiling and returning to her spot in the back. Tara knew that feeling before. She often was that awkward, person who didn't talk much, even though there was a whole lot on the inside they weren't seeing. Tyson waved back, and promised himself he would do something special for her later, as a sort of tribute to the silent-but-crazy-on-the-inside girls. He then proceeded to answer back to all of their questions. Tara felt that since now she was under a different identity, and probably not going to see them in the future, she could act as funky as she wanted to.

"So first of all, I am a male specimen, you can judge on the rest." Tyson couldn't bring himself to wink; boys or girls, he hadn't learned to flirt yet. The classy glasses girl smiled anyways. "And thanks for the compliment, but..." He moved in closer and brought his hand up to make a wall on the side of his mouth that was closest to Jason, "It's probably only the make up Jason made me put on." The brunette responded with a tilt of the head and an "Aww!".

"My birthday is April 4th, I haven't figured my type of lady yet," he gave a small shy smile, "and I d-" Tyson was suddenly grabbed by the collar and pulled back out the doors of the dining hall. He heard the voice of an elderly man behind him, "Sorry Mistresses, I hope you wouldn't mind if I borrowed your Tyson for a moment. We have some unfinished business to take care off. Please excuse us." The voice had a heavy British accent, and combined with a formal tone really made them sound royal. She turned around to see Alfred's face for just a second, followed with very brisk walking into the kitchen. She tried her best to not have her eyes pop out with a really guilty look on her face.

"I assume it was Master Todd." Tyson only managed a nod. "Had you told me earlier you were to attend the party, I would have taught you all the rules of etiquette and the dancing." Tara smiled, she was thankful he wasn't going to comment on the awkward clothing she was wearing.

They started with an Irish jig that was to be performed this night. There was lots of toe-pointing and hopping, putting your hand in the air to lightly touch your partner's and circle around, and also lots of instances of twirling and bowing. Then came the etiquette tips. There were specific places to put your fork for pausing between bites, depending on whether you used the European set of rules or the American set of rules. Alfred was very concise; probably after practice with Grayson and Todd. Tara was really amazed at how fast Alfred was! He finished the explanations in only 20 minutes. It was all the basics, and she had most of them down. Alfred then returned her to the party, just in time for the jig.

Everyone in the hall lined up into two big lines, one male line, and one female line. They started off, and Tyson first danced with the girl in the white dress. The everyone started with a bow, then went to middle and circled each other, and many other quirky details that made the dance just so much more fun. Tyson started with a question, "So, I never really caught your name. I guess you have mine already, right?"

She giggled, "Yeah, I know your name. Mine is Adrianna."

"That's a beautiful name!" As the two separated, and prepared for the next partners, she smiled, and said, "You should come and join us at the table, I'll be waving." Adrianna winked, then bowed, and moved on. Tyson felt himself flush on the inside. He was fitting in! Even in the big fancy crowds! He never thought he would be able to pull it off! It was so the Irish luck that was helping him!

Next, the classy glasses came up. Tyson took a peek at the rest of the line after her. It had seemed all the girls lined up. This was going to be so much fun. She began the conversation with a curt, "Hello."

Tyson joined in, "Hi! Nice to meet you! I love your dress! The red goes nicely with your skin! Even the plaid pattern matches up with the Irish in St. Patrick's!" He sounded like a boy who had just seen a hot-shot sports-car. The girl, just shifted her glasses up by the bridge of her nose and gave a courteous smile. "That's why my exquisite designer chose it. You have a good eye for an average boy. My name's Clarissa by the way." She seemed definitely the most strict of all.

On and on went the meetings of all the girls, and Tyson learned all their names. The Asian in the orange dress and straightened pigtails was Sam, the green eyed blonde in the pink was Christina, and she reminded her awfully of the Christina at home. The blue-eyed brunette was Belle, and the shy black haired in the green dress was Alisha. Tyson figured exactly what to say. When they wer walking in a circle, facing each other, he pulled in close to her ear, and whispered, "I think you look really cute today. The best of you that I've seen so far is that you don't waste your words, and the awesomest part is, is that we look the best dancing together because your dress matches my ribbon." Tyson smiled, and Alisha blushed, looked down, bowed, and twirled over to the next man. Tara felt somewhat proud on the inside. She made a girl feel just a little more comfortable around her. The next woman was **ver****y** interesting.

A slim, confident looking woman with short, black hair appeared in front of Tyson. Tyson, naturally, smiled and bowed, "That's a lovely dress, ma'am." What he wasn't expecting, was the answer she gave him back.

"Why aren't you in our line? Your too pretty of a girl to mask as a boy and go unnoticed." Tyson almost coughed, but instead got goosebumps in awe.

"How did you know?"

"Your pretty face reveals it all." Tyson gulped, took a breath in, then said (quite stupidly),

"You're good." His eyes went wide and he grinned with respect towards this lady.

"I've been training, kid. By the way, I haven't seen you around here much. Who's family are you from?" Tyson sighed, thinking about how to answer this.

"I've come here to go to school, but since my parents live VERY far away, they've decided to let me board. I came in when renovations were still happening, so the Wayne family let me stay at their house."

"Interesting." Her smile seemed to break through the truth of how he was from a different world. "I'm Selina Kyle. Just call me Selina. Your name?" She moved so with so much grace and feminine, and it was so smooth it seemed almost... catlike.

"Tyson-"

"The real one." Tyson gave a guilty smile.

"Oh! Um.. Tara. Tara Riaz." Selina looked at the clock.

"Looks like its prime time, Tara. See you around some other time." Her voice almost gave Tara the chills.

"Yeah, b-", but Selina was already gone, and the next partner had come up. She really wondered what prime time meant.

The rest of the women were in 6 inch heels, with their colors varying from bright red to neon yellow. They all talked of him nicely, commenting on how good a gentleman he was. Some of them had big cigars in their mouths, and each time they talked or let out a breath, the stink of tobacco (along with the grey smoke) came out and lingered in Tyson's nostrils. The last one came Mandy. The one in the purple dress who was flirting with Jason. She wasn't as friendly as the others.

Tyson was greeted with a glare.

"What's your business with him?"

"With who?"

"Jason! You dumb idiot!"

"Oh, you know, I live here with him in this house, we play vid games together, he asked me out once, it's all good. Why are you asking?"

Her eyes widened. "Jason's interested in guys?"

Tyson suddenly took defense. "Yeah! You got a problem with gays?"

"Well, he and me, I mean Jason and me- He loves ME!"

"Look. I don't really care about any of your pointless romantic drama with him. I was joking about the last one, 'kay?"

She let out this really weird noise that was part growl, part the squeal that jerks make after they get annoyed. "Ugh! You disgust me! How dare you even talk about him and you being together! You aren't even a girl, and if you were, you'd be an ugly pig!" Mandy stomped away.

The one thing about girls that you shouldn't underestimate, is how sensitive they are. Tara was a girl that didn't feel the depth of the insult at first, but when night came around with the dark, majestic sky pinned with thousands of stars, she couldn't stop thinking about it.

Nonetheless, the dance finally finished (Mandy had a completely red face), and they started dinner. She let every one settle down, and found the table she wanted to sit at after everyone found their places. Tyson wanted to sit down at the table from which Adrianna was waving from. As she approached the only available seat, it was across from Adrianna and to his right was going to be Alisha. He smiled and energetically pulled out the chair forward. The table was draped with a laced white table cloth, and the centerpiece was a masterful bouquet of shell flowers (that had a more concentrated pinkish-white in the middle, and as it fanned out the pink faded), red amaryllis flowers with a white stripe down the center of each petal, and white easter lilies that had the beautiful trace of a sun-bright yellow in the center. Dinner came alo ng, and there were many Irish dishes, such as barmbrack, coddle, colcannon, and serving plate piled with slices of corned beef. This party would be a vegetarian's nightmare, all the meat in the world was there! It was the most elegant party Tara had ever been to, and frankly, she felt like a pauper in comparison to these confident beauties sitting with her at the table.

She never though the night would go by so fast, and she didn't know she was having so much fun. She was always part of that group, in the middle school socials, that would go to the movie viewing area, not the dancing area that much. That's why she didn't think she would be able to survive this one. She did, though, and as she waved the girls farewell, she sincerely hoped to see them again sometime. Alisha seemed happy too as she scurried back to her parents, both of which patted her back and were saying something Tara couldn't hear. Probably asking her how the ball went.

As Tara's party finished and she went back to her room to change out of the beautiful yet comfortable tux, Jason couldn't help but notice that she hadn't seen him sitting next to her, on her left side. She also didn't fully recognize that at the end, it was all due to him that she had that much fun.

But that had nothing to do with the matter, of course it was... nothing. Jason was just glad that he didn't have to dance with her.

Even though he had to observe, Jason was kept out of many secrets of her life, (and forced to stop watching) so he still had much to find out about when she stayed over.

It all happened so fast.

He wondered what was next

Sorry guys! I know this is REAALY late for St. Patricks and stuff, but I just love ! And I couldn't hold myself from writing something about it!

In this chapter, I actually searched up foods that were irish (on wikipedia, not the best source, I know) and here are the descriptions:

Barmbrack - a leavened bread with raisins (the purple raisins and the golden ones)

Coddle - Layers of roughly sliced pork sausages bacon, usually thinly sliced, somewhat fatty back bacon, with sliced potatoes, and onion.

Colcannon - mashed potatoes with kale, or cabbage

Corned Beef - kind of self explanatory, search it up if you want :)

I also apologize to people who are named "Mandy" because for some reason, the mean girl's name is ALWAYS mandy.

For example, in Totally Spies, who was that annoying popular girl? Mandy. Im not really sure about other ones, but i just feel its always the bad person's name.

Thanks soo much to JustAnotherCreativeWriter, piggythelaw, Predator the Assassin (god i love that name!), and Stronger123.

Without you guys I might have stopped a long time ago!


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a week after the party had happened, and things were not heading the right way. Even though Tara had opened a little, she was still mostly in her room. She wasn't eating much either. Over the time I had watched her, it was as simple as this. Places she was comfortable, she could eat as much as she wanted and not feel uncomfortable. It clearly wasn't the amount of food that made her eat accordingly, because his 6 and a half foot fridge was so much larger in comparison to her cousin's little 3 foot freezer that was packed with ice cream cones and frozen pizzas. It once came to a point that when they were all at the dinner table, and Tara hadn't touched her peas and stake, that Alfred personally took her into the immense and spotless kitchen, sat her down on a stool, put a bib on her, and fed her each and every one of the minuscule peas. Jason watched through the circular glass window. But when it came to the stake, she put her hand up, in a stop motion. She then said something he couldn't hear, the darn soundproof doors, and Alfred raised his eyebrows in a bit of shock, mixed with a that's-interesting-to-know look. He put the stake back in the fridge took the bib off, and set her down from the stool. She smiled, said what could be lip-read as "Thanks", and walked through the push-able double doors. By the time she came outside lightly laughing, Jason was already in the shadows of the hallway intersecting with the opening of the kitchen nicely out of sight. Son after, Alfred stepped out too, closing the kitchen lights as he exited.

"Quite the shy one, isn't she Master Todd?"

Jason stepped outside. Alfred was accustomed to strange men and boys, hiding in the dark. He had raised Bruce and watched him grow, after all.

Jason scoffed, and smiled. After stepping into the light, he looked near the direction of Alfred, except this time, just a bit behind. "You forgot Bruce too." Alfred slowly turned his head towards the other direction. Bruce was smirking, but slowly his face melted back into seriousness. "Why is she avoiding food? She seems, depressed, and nervous all the time."

Jason suggested, "She isn't comfortable around a socialite billionaire and his ass-hole son."

"Well, you were quick to answer." Bruce's eyebrow rose a bit.

"You were the sadistic freak who put me through hours of just observing some stupid girl's life, watching her eat her stupid food, and play with her stupid friends!" Jason was yelling now. He **was** pissed off. Too pissed off to notice the tiny bit of weight creaking on the stairs above them, obscured from his vision. The girl. That girl walked back to her room, ready to squander another hour of time alone and tired.

"In that case, there's not much we can do. I-"

"She needs friends. Real ones. It sucks for her to hang out with a 40 year-old whore and a bald manservant." Jason's had the tone that just barely hid the seething hatred and the typical stuck-up pose with arms crossed and leaning on one leg. Just the norm.

"That's a 30 year old whore, by the way." Bruce said in a quite as-a-matter-of-fact voice.

Alfred just stood there calmly watching, waiting for a good opening for him to leave. Bruce and Jason were like fire and water. Jason always with angry, cutting remarks. Bruce with cool, cutting remarks that would completely douse Jason's ability to bit back, at least for a while.

"Well, Master Wayne, Master Todd, please excuse me as I go to find Tara. Seeing as I will most plausibly be the one to take action." Alfred walked up the stairs, one arm hanging down, in a controlled manner, and the left arm tucked neatly onto his rib cage with a white towelette draped over it. His left elbow had, by decades of practice, learned to form a flawless 90 degree angle within seconds. He calmly walked down to the right of where the stair case ended and met the second floor. Past Jason's room, and there it was. The door of Tara's room. Beyond her room was a hallway which ended in a circular floor space that joined 5 guest rooms. There was a staircase leading to the first floor from that too. It occurred to Alfred that this house could be seen as a particularly beautiful maze for people unfamiliar to a mixture of architecture styles that resulted in the Wayne Manor. He calmly knocked on the door 3 times, then proceeded to open her door. She had just changed back into her mismatched pajamas (dark red plaid pants and an extremely loose lime green t-shirt) and was intently buried in her Mandarin textbook.

"So you take Chinese, Mistress." She looked up after reading a bit more, and nodded. "You can just call me Tara. I'm nothing more." Alfred smiled, then shook his head. This one was certainly different from the male counter part in the other room. She proceeded to tuck a sheet of paper in the book, close it, and push off of her bed. She smiled and folded her hands behind her back, and stood tall in front of him. "So, what do you need?" Alfred semi-froze after hearing that statement. He hadn't really known what he needed from her. He cleared his throat, "Well, seeing you don't tend to be at ease in this Manor, I would like to know what would assist you in... becoming adjusted to your new habitat, Mistress." Alfred stood equally straight, in front of Tara, with his left arm bent into a perfect 90 degree angle over his stomach.

"Thank you for the offer, Sir Alfred, but I am quite well suited in my... 'habitat'." Tara spoke formally, with her left arm bent into a perfect 90 degree angle over her stomach, in a perfect imitation of Alfred (minus the British accent). Alfred on the other hand, was a little surprised.

"Sir Alfred, you say?"  
"Yup. I'll give as much respect to your name as you do mine." She had her lips pursed into a small smile, one that showed she was sincere and firm. Alfred grinned, and continued. "We'll see who gives up first then, Mistress, but I still feel you have a bad air about our home. What may I do to bring it more for your standards?"

"As for standards, I have none, Sir Alfred, but you probably think I feel uncomfortable just because I am studying all the time?"

"Precisely, but it is even a step beyond that. No children your age are so focused in academics like you seem to be, and I am worrying because you, Mistress, tend to get very anxious in places you don't feel like you belong."

"Sir Alfred, I show more concern towards academics not because of my discomfort with your adequate living spaces, but because it is something my parents beat into me as a youngling." She almost giggled at saying "youngling". Tara was never so careful or formal in her conversations with someone, and boy, was it hard to not say "like".

The evening moved on with Alfred's and Tara's teasing banter, and after quite a bit of nagging by Alfred, he got confirmation that she did indeed feel "just a little weird" because she was living in a house full of men. Her own family consisted of three females and only one man. Alfred nodded. He felt sympathy for this girl because, unlike Jason, she was kind, soft-spoken, and polite. Alfred then retreated, satisfied at prying out a little information, and said goodnight to the "Mistress".

...Tara...

Wow. My brain is still oblivious to the enormous change in my lifestyle. It hasn't freaked out yet, like it should have a long time ago. I still can't grasp my mind-fingers around the cold fact that I now have temporary residence in a creepy, gothic mansion with a billionare, his butler, and his son. Gosh, **everything **is either black, or in a faded color, giving off the feeling of vampires, or something from the medival times. The gargoyles peer down with their blank eyes and screwed-up faces boring holes at the suface-dwellers beneath. I'm not intimidated, though, because I know they're just jealous that we get to walk and love and eat food and they don't. Refrain from falling into the dangerous trap of jealousy, fellow gargoyles. It leaves you wallowing in a pit of self-loathing (or do you say self-hatred?) with nothing to hurt but your own soul. A lot of humans spit and stare at you, fellow gargoyles, but that's just because they won't think hard enough to comprehend the pain you folks go through. The realization of most things around me will come, eventually.

I don't really think I fit in. Not yet, at least. These people are all rich and sophisticated, while I'm just a girl who's mother even thinks she can't dress right. This Jason kid also scares me. He glares and glares all the time, like he's looking at a piece of garbage that doesn't belong there.

Well guess what Jason? I **know** I don't belong here. I'm having anxiety issues here. And you know what? I'm still partially afraid of the absolute dark (especially in un-charted territory), so every night when the wind blows and creaks the wooden floors, I'm completely ready to duck under the covers. I swear almost every single one of those nights I see the shadows of humans moving, although there isn't any squeaking of wooden floors like there should be.

I'm **fully** ready to pack my bags and get the heck outta here.

You don't have to worry, Jason. I'll find a way to make both mine, and your suffering end.

* * *

Hey guys! Thanks for supporting me so far! I really want to improve my earlier chapters, because i look back and see how HORRIBLE that writing was, but I can't make myself do it. If i do, then I will tell you in the afternote of the chapters. Please feel free to tell me about any grammar problems, or any things you think were awkwardly written in the story! It will only help me and make me a better writer. Please only give constructive comments though!

Thanks again to JustAnotherCreativeWriter, piggythelaw, Predator the Assassin, and Stronger123 for reviewing and stuff!


	7. Chapter 7

A couple hours had passed since Tara woke, and she had successfully cooked Master Alfred breakfast, changed into decent clothes, not woken up Mr. Wayne , and avoided Jason when he came down the stairs at 10:30.

The doorbell rang.

"Master Pennyworth!" Tara yelled across the hallway, which led to the main door, while tying her thick hair into a manageable ponytail.

"Yes, Mistress?" She could hear his footsteps steadily approaching her direction.

"It's the doorbell! Should I take it?" Alfred walked into the very back of the huge, marble-carved hallway. He had cracked from his 24/7 tuxedo wearing into a navy blue checkered pullover with a white, patched apron. For him it was the equivalent of a woman in a bathrobe with curlers still hanging around in her hair.

His eyes slightly bulged, then he pulled himself back together. "Oh, dear! I couldn't approach a guest in this! You'll have to get it, no matter what your wearing!" He eyed her loose heather grey t-shirt and light-colored jeans, then walked as fast as he could without losing his elegance, and disappeared from view.

"But what if it's a rich lady with a crush on Mr. Wayne?" Bruce, who was still lying in bed with his eye-shade pulled over his eyelids, heard it and smirked.

Alfred's bald head poked out from the side of the wall connected to the hallway. "Simply say what I would say! 'He's in Albania waltzing with maidens of the hills, ma'am, and is currently unavailable by his cellphone, or email.'" He retreated back into the shadows.

Tara took a deep breath in, and rushed over to the doors hearing the door bell ring again. Oh God, please don't be a rich lady.

She swung the door wide open and quickly burbled out the few words she could manage. After all, it was her first time talking to a woman of possible royal status.

"H-He's in Walbania malzting with m-maidens of the hills, Your Highness, and he is currently unreachable by Facebook. To leave a voicemail, press 1."

* * *

M'gann stood in front of the door, overlooking the wide-eyed girl before her. She was babbling something almost inaudible about Wablania and ...voicemail? M'gann sighed and chuckled slightly. She extended her peach colored hand (not white hand) and smiled. "My name's Megan, or M'gann, whichever one you want to call me. I heard about you from Mr. Wayne." The girl finally cracked from her tense expression and smiled. She slowly opened the door wider. "Do you want to come inside? "

M'gann tilted her head to the side and gestured towards her car. "Actually, I was hoping if I could steal you for a little trip to the base. The Young Justice base, of course."

The girl looked confused, then asked, "What's Young Justice? I mean, I heard that Mr. Wayne was part of a Justice League, but not much else."

M'gann nodded, and explained, "Well Mr. Wayne's son, Jason, is part of a junior league of superheroes that we call Young Justice. Alfred actually thought it would be good for you to come over and see everyone."

The girl pondered for a minute, then gladly nodded and stepped outside. M'gann unlocked the car, and noticed the girl sat in the back seat, still attempting to keep her distance. M'gann wasn't going to let her do that.

"Hey, why don't you grab the front seat? I promise I don't bite!" The girl smiled again and popped into the front seat next to M'gann. M'gann revved up the red Camry, then proceeded to back out the long, curvy drive way and start driving towards Happy Harbor.

* * *

...TARA...

I'm trying not to facepalm at what I said when I first opened the door. I got really nervous, and just mixed up letters and words, and even added the "voice mail" phrase in there. What was I thinking? Whatever, I guess. I hope she doesn't remember that.

On the other hand, I'm thinking about M'gann. She is really pretty. It's almost unreal. Most people would be more inclined to being her friend because of her beauty, but I feel the opposite. I feel like I'm not good enough to be her friend, since she's so pretty. Maybe I don't deserve to be her friend because I'm not pretty enough. That's probably about right. After she gives me a tour of the base, she'll go away and forget my face. If that happens, I'll be at square one, just like I was at the Wayne Manor when I first came.

I've overheard conversations between Jason and Mr. Wayne, talking about missions and team members at the base, and it sounds pretty awesome. I wonder if the people there are going to be too occupied to be my friends. Probably.

* * *

M'gann and Tara conversed a only a little bit more in the car before the reached base, and M'gann learnt that Tara was also very shy (by the way she shifted in her seat and barely talked).

The car halted to a stop in front of the huge green hill, and then M'gann stepped out of the car, stood before the hill. A voice echoed from the hill, "M'gann M'orzz. B05" and a section from the side of the green hill opened. M'gann waved her hand, gesturing for her to come out, then she sent the car into the garage.

Tara walked inside, following after pretty M'gann, keeping to herself and remaining very quiet. People here were busy, and they didn't have to waste their time on welcoming someone as unimportant as her. When they stepped in, the base turned out to be better then she thought. The huge gray cave M'gann called a hangar with two Zeta tubes for transportation, clean kitchen with, best of all, a bunch of girls just talking. Tara was really happy to see girls, because boy did she feel uncomfortable living in a house of three men. Her own family had been three women and only one man.

M'gann noticed Tara looking towards the kitchen, so she decided to start there.

"Here is our beautiful kitchen," M'gann led Tara inside, then motioned to the other girls. "And these are the our beautiful team members. " Then they all introduced themselves. The one with black hair and a lavender tank top was Zatanna, the two blondes were Artemis and Cassie, the redhead was Kate Kane, the two African Americans were Raquel and Karen, then M'gann. All of them waved and smiled, And even offered to come along on her first tour of the place. They walked out of the kitchen, Raquel bringing a bag of chips along. Then they met the all the boys, and Aqualad actually greeted Tara with a hug. Tara was surprised, really, because she thought he would just forget her, but he actually took the blood bond seriously and thought of her as a younger sister.

"Nice to see you again, Tara. My apologies for not being able to see you for the past-"

"Don't worry about it. I know you're busy all the time. You remembered my name, what more can I ask for?"

Aqualad smiled. She was certainly humble, and easy to please. He was lucky he didn't get a sister with a bad personality.

* * *

They had toured the whole place, then decided it was well time for her to go home, seeing it was at least 10:00 pm. She waved good bye to everyone, who was much more friendly than she thought, and got inside the Bio-Ship with M'gann.

At that moment, M'gann's phone rang. It was Alfred. M'gann gave it to Tara. She told her it was for her.

Tara pressed the green phone symbol.

"Hello?"

"Ah, yes Mistress. I have an important message! You will not be returning home tonight!"

"Why? Did I do something?"

Alfred chuckled, "No, no! You have been relocated to the Young Justice base! Have a good time and don't be naughty!"

"O-ok Sir-" Tara was going to continue, but he had already hung up.

* * *

Wow. The Young Justice base. I hope I don't die.

* * *

HI! Sorry for the boring fill in Chapters... I have a lot of CHapters already made, but I don't know when and were to put them! AAAAHHHHHH

Thanks to all the reviewers! I would die without you guys!


	8. Chapter 8

_**AUTHOR'S PRENOTE! **_

Hi guys! I AM SOO HAPPY! I've submitted 2 chapters in 2 days! That's the best i've done so far!

So, for the previous 7 chapters (except chapter 4) they've all pretty much been crap. I'm not gonna lie. At first I didn't know how to get into the real buisness with YJ and Tara and Jason, but now I've set the stage and given you all the background info you need, so now i should be getting more serious with my chapters...

Now for the real reason I made this author's note:

**Spanish Defninitions!**

_Amenaza Roja_ - Red Menace

_Tapas_ - fingerfood/savories/mini entrees (sorry... google translate is confusing me)

_Dios Mio..._ - My god...

_Chica - _girl

_Ese - _Mexican slang for "friend" or "homie"

* * *

It had been a month since Tara moved in. She had made good friends since then, and was now very comfortable with the base. It reminded her of her family at home.

Jaime and Gar were casually sitting at the green kitchen table, casually conversing about little tidbits of their school today. Tara was at the stove, listening to a recipe through the phone, when the Red Menace walked in through the base entrance. At least that was what Jaime called him in spanish ("_Amenaza Roja_"). It was Jason. The female monotone speaker, from what you could call the garage of the base, announced his arrival. "Recognized. Jason Todd. B13."

Their garage was a secret opening from the surface, so their entrance seen from the outside was really a portion on the side of a hill covered in grass. Jason rode in on his slick red motorcycle, the engine humming as the speaker announced the last digit of his identity PIN. He threw his helmet to the floor, or more like purposely on her bike which toppled on Jaime's skateboard, and ruffled his hair before walking to the kitchen table, right where the two boys were sitting, and pulled out his phone to text. Jaime chirped out a greeting, sounding so delighted and welcoming. Tara didn't know how he did it. Jason was just full of …..rudeness disrespect crankiness hatred... it. He sure was doing a good example of all that now. No greeting (not even "Hi"), putting his feet on the table , promptly crushing one of Garfield's comic books, and giving me a straight out glare. He sniffed the air then promptly said, "What are you cooking?"

She resisted the temptation to glare back and didn't even look his way. Tara pressed the phone to her shoulder so it would muffle out sounds, and replied, "I'm on the line with Jaime's mom. She's teaching me how to cook some _tapas_." In reply, Jason snorted, "Ugh... mexican food." Tara would have corrected him and told him it was Spanish food, but she didn't want to annoy him any more than he already seemed to be. Jaime turned from a cheery chirpy, to a morbid mexican.

Jason didn't ever seem to notice the great depression he brought to most of the people in the team his age.

She kept everything in. All the anger. All the BURNING anger. But everything had stay inside.

Jason continued harassing. He looked down at the comic books crushed under his feet, then scoffed, "You still read this crap?" He picked one up and flipped through it. "This stuff could actually make you more dumb than you already are."

Out of the many times he had annoyed and bullied, this was the first time she shot back. At least a little. "Please. As if your intelligence helped you."

"I'm smarter than all of you."

"And definitely less polite."

He crossed his arms. "And why does that matter, smartass?" Then said quite sarcastically, "Does it hurt people's feelings?"

She turned around, and simply stated, "Yeah, and when you really need a favor, they'll reject you and kick you out the door." She muted the phone and put it on the kitchen counter, hoping Jaime's mom hadn't heard anything.

"What's up your ass today? Getting so emotional."

Even Jaime got uncomfortable after Jason said that. He decided to make a statement too, and said, "Dude, don't swear at her. It's not cool."

"Like it matters." Jason smirked at Jaime, who didn't want to be rude and yell back.

Tara was thinking to herself. She didn't know Jason was so horrible when she was in the mansion! She did think the glaring was a little awkward, but she would have never expected a devil! He always swore in front of Beast Boy (who even though he was 12 still had the innocence of a 9 year old), he always bullied Jaime, and always ignored the other members. She didn't know what he wanted from Young Justice if he didn't like his team.

The Red Menace spoke again, "This is dumb. All you guys are losers. I shouldn't be here."

Tara's head spun with all the comebacks she could think of. You know what? You're right! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR UGLY ASS FACE ANYMORE!

NO. She would not stoop that low. She had to hold it in. Hold it in. She had to! She HAD TO. JUST HOLD IT IN. She was so very close to losing it. HOURS and WEEKS she had kept it in, and it would not pry itself out. Not in front of beast boy. No swearing. NO SWEARING.

Then she promptly pushed her palm onto the hot coiled gas stove.

Ow.

OW.

DON'T SCREAM! KEEP IT IN!

Tara shut her eyes, then popped them open again. She needed her vision to distract her from the pain. The boiling, burning pain. Spots swirled around her eyes, her heart pounded blood into her hand, and she covertly leaned against the stove. She rushed as fast as she could to the sink, her hand hurting even more because of the sudden air movement above it, and ran cold water over it. She first winced, but then sighed in relief. She thought the little mind war she had and the burn she gave herself was not really noticed, but she underestimated how observant the others really were.

* * *

Jason just kept cursing at Tara. I don't know why. He seemed like a cool kid until she came. She's pretty nice though, so I don't know why he would be so mad because of her.

She's been the only girl I've met is who is nice enough to go through the trouble of calling up my mom and cooking up my favorite food, _tapas_. I don't even know how she knew I was a little home sick after my long mission, or how she got my mom's number. I don't even know what I did to earn it!

I said "hi" to her and smiled after she had stayed here a week.

Was that all it took?

Huh. Talk about small acts of kindness...

I then looked over in her direction. Something wasn't going well. She ran over to the sink and kept her left hand under the water and stared at it for a long time. Extraño...

Then she kept her hand under the sink, and her other hand was squeezing her left wrist. Tears down her cheeks. I finally understood it.

I pushed up from my seat and sprinted over into the kitchen. Her left hand was all screwed up. There were big blisters, and it was awfully red. There was blood just glazing the edges of her palm, but not a lot, thankfully.

_Dios mío_... What had this _chica_ done to herself?

* * *

Tara saw Jaime dash to her side and immediately pull up his sleeves. Blue material creeped down his arms onto his hands. He moved her hand out of the water, and her burn painfully swelled at the sudden withdrawal. Out of his fingertips came out branch-like structures that slithered across her hand, sucking up all the blood. She winced, and held on the counter with her other hand. Somehow, pain goes away when you squeeze something else.

The little branches then creeped back into the blue, and then Jaime asked, "Now what?"

Tara wondered who he was talking to.

Jaime then took some disinfecting swipes and lightly dabbed her hand.

Wince. Wince. OW. Wince.

The fingers that extended from the burnt palm trembled, and her breaths became sharp and short.

"Why did you do that, _ese_?", Jaime asked in a soft voice.

"Was... Beast Boy watching?" She struggled to speak.

"No. But, answer my question. Why?"

"I was going to start y-yelling...That's bad...Really bad... It's only been a m-month, and a-already...I'm angry at him..." She then looked up, dizzy from the pain.

"So you burnt your hand to keep your mouth shut?"

She sighed. "Yeah."

He shook his head,"Not the best way to go, _chica_" .

"It was good enough for me."

* * *

Jason saw it all. Even before Jaime had seen her running over. He saw her clenched fists after his last comment, then he saw her hand stamp down on the stove, then she ran to the sink, then Jaime went up and helped.

Her reaction was likely to happen, according to him, but not likely to happen as extreme as she had done it. When he had observed her, he had often seen times when she or others around her were being negatively impacted, and if she felt it was her fault she would hurt herself. Usually using pencils or her nails to scratch her skin till it was clawed and red. But never had she gone as far as to withdraw blood. Burning her hand was over the top. Maybe it was the envorionment she was in, that was familiar with harsh injuries and lots of blood, that had influenced her to cause more pain to herself.

Jason guessed that she thought it was her fault that he was being mean. In a way, it was true, since he had only voiced his hatred since she lived at base, but she should have stopped decieving herself and just snapped at him. Who cared if Beast boy saw and heard her anger.

**She should've stopped holding back.**


	9. Chapter 9

MANUEL ANTONIO

JULY 8, 10:30 PM

It's hot. And humid. My wig is slipping from my head. And I lost my sock.

We're in Costa Rica. Today's the first day. The very first day, and yet we already started all of the vacationing activities. Today they did the zip lining, the bungee jumping, and air diving. I wonder why though, because all of them have done that in every single one of their missions.

Tara. She had completely changed from the quiet nervous kid in the room next to his, to a smiling, happy ball of sunshine. It's freaky.

I didn't want to be here. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS. Especially not as a girl. I was made to wear a wig to look like one. My third secret identity is now Julia. I don't want to talk about it.

Right now, we're in a BMW convertible driving in a valley. Tara is just smiling in the back, next to me, with her knees pushed to her chest. She closes her eyes and leans back her head while listening to the others sing loudly partially in tune. The history of our team is pretty simple. M'gann, Artemis, Zatanna, and Rocket are the Originals, then Wonder Girl, Bumblebee and Batgirl are the Add-Ons, and Me, Tara, and Starfire are the New Girls. I came around before Batgirl and Wondergirl. I should totally be part of the Add-ons, but whatever. What's more interesting, is how Starfire came around. She wasn't even on Earth when we found her. We were trapped prisoners on another planet called Tamaran.

We meaning Tara and I.

* * *

GOTHAM CITY MALL

APRIL 6, 12:30 PM

It's me, Tara and Gar, all together, shopping. I don't even know how I got here. Alfred's a good con man.

We're at Forever 21 for Tara (Gar went shopping first), and Gar is the one picking out clothes for her to wear. She just follows him around while he throws layers and layers of random skirts and shirts on top of her. Apparently he learned a little from M'gann.

She came out of the fitting rooms slowly, wearing a pleated orange skirt that went to her knees and a gray tank with black stripes. Her hands cover her stomach. Gar doesn't notice. He just smiles, and says "It looks great! You should wear orange more!"

Tara looks back down, inspecting herself, then shrugs, "I don't really do skirts, or orange, but I like the tank."

She then swings back inside, not giving me a chance to voice my opinion (gasp!), but who cares anyway? Since when has my opinion become important?

Back outside she comes, in dark blue jeans and a loose boatneck green shirt. No hands covering anything, just hands sitting in pockets.

"I'm definetly buying this."

Gar smiles and tells her to stay and try out more clothes as he finds other things for her to wear. She goes back inside.

In meanwhile I'm on my phone, not texting like the others think, but looking into world news and anything I should be concerned about. I flick a piece of my hair out of my face. .

BOOM. CRASH. BEEP BEEP BEEP.

I stand up, jump in and out of one of the changing rooms and sprint out of Forever 21. I deactivated and erased all memory from the store's cameras. No one should know who I am.

There's smoke everywhere, and when it clears, I see a man with a crimson red smile on his face. Joker. He throws a grenade up and blows the ceiling off. I leap over a screaming crowd and shove the Joker down from behind. He looks up from the ground and smiles. He holds out a remote and presses the center button. He cackles then lays back and streches out on the floor, smugly comfortable.

"Really! Bird-boy! You've gone ahead and given me a bonus for payday. Jee thanks, bud."

A swirling vortex of purple and gray opens up behind me. Shit. At first its not that strong, so I'm almost out, but then a crying young boy falls into my arms. I throw him back out into the open, to safety. I still hold on to a loose rock, but I know its practically over. I then see a girl in a navy blue t-shirt and gym shorts drop a bag and run towards me.  
A black ponytail.

5' 6"

Shit.

She runs over, then lays down, hooks her feet to the legs of some bench, stretches out into the vortex and takes both my hands. I hope to God this works. Both our arms pull in, and her face scrunches as she tries with her legs this time. Her lower body is much stronger. I know.

We close in, almost to the bench. This was a good idea. She helped me. This should boost her self-confidence. I try to lift the heavy weight pulling off of her shoulders and pull with everything I have. My body is now a little ball, dragged on to the cement by her hands. We're almost there.

I see a red smile behind her. He pulls back his leg and smirks.

SHIT.

"LET GO, TARA. NOW!" I speak over the loud chaos.

Her eyes widen and she shakes her head. "ARE YOU CRAZY? NO!"

I'm about to growl, but then the Joker kicks her legs off the bench, and we both go in.

We land pretty awkward. Her arms are wrapped around my head, which is dug into her hard ribs. I get up, and watch her groan and squit her eyes at me. In her hand is a plastic bag. A Forever 21 bag.

"Are you serious? You brought the bag?"

She sits up, rubbing her neck, and shrugs. "Might as well take nice clothes into wherever we're going." I'd laugh, but that would send her the wrong message, like it would any girl, that I want to be friends with her or like her which I clearly do not and she clearly is hostile towards that, even though she has welcomed any friendly gestures so far, and I'm a freak so there's no way. How could I even think of laughing? I look around at my surroundings, and frankly, they look like crap. Its just gray sand. Dry gray sand. No mountains or rivers. She looks around too, and says suggestively, "Almost like a beach." I'm not even going to look at her. How could this look anything like a beach?

She takes her shoes and socks off, puts them in her bag, then starts walking. I jog over and ask her what she's doing. She points to the bright red cloud shaped as an arrow in the sky pointing to somewhere off in the distance. She looks at me then purses her lips. "Even if it is a trap, do we have anywhere else to go?" I shrugged. She did have a point. I remember to snap out of my costume, but because I ripped off my clothes in the mall, I have to wear Tara's jeans and green boatneck shirt. "Why didn't you let go?"

Her smile melts. "I couldn't just stop trying."

"Well, look where that got you! I TOLD YOU TO LET GO. " This was our second big argument. Two months ago we were yelling at each other in a hospital room when she almost had her leg amputated.  
She looked down, "At least admit it. We were pretty close this time."

The truth was, we were pretty close, but I wont let her slip that easy. There's a grudge between me and her. One that only I have against her. I don't even know how I got it, its just natural hatred.

"We weren't close. Stop getting yourself involved! IT'S STUPID!"

"Look, if you mean getting myself involved will be a barrier to you, I'm fully aware. I** know** that I'm just a piece of crap on the road you want to run over someday! But guess what? I will eliminate myself the moment I feel useless and get clean out of your way. Don't you worry about trying to hold my weight."

That wasn't the answer I was looking for. I was trying to make her think about herself so she could care more about her life, not be willing to throw it away. "Forget I ever said anything to you," is the best I can come up with, then we both started walking in the red arrow's direction.

Several hours later, she's walking really slow, and I'm awkwardly walking next to her, unsure wether to carry her, put her arm on me for support, or do nothing. I offer to hold the bag. She smiles, and says sorry for the inconvienience. I just take it and look forward. SCORE! LOOKS LIKE SHE FORGOT WE HAD A FIGHT. I see a large gathering of people ahead. I'll point it out to her later.

We reach the large crowd and she brightens up. She whispers to me with a small smile, "There are people here."

I sigh and reply in an equally low voice in her ear, "No. There are hostages here. Hostages to save. Fifty of 'em."

She see my frown then smiles wider and whispers, "You'll be fine."

I cut out the whispering and look wide-eyed at her face. "That's all the advice you give me? 'You'll be fine'?"

She puts her hands in her pockets and replies smugly, "I said I'd help you with me being a burden, not fifty other people. This is your problem. Not mine." She sets her bag on the ground, puts her head on it, then rolls over and takes a nap. I just sigh, sit next to her (I make sure I sit on the side away from her face), then watch the rest of the crowd talk to each other, fast and panicked. I wonder if sitting next to her counts as friendship. It's too confusing to try and figure out if it is.

This is going to be one long day.

* * *

Hi guys! Thanks SanShine and lilly321 for following this story (even though its really bad), and Stronger123 for being really nice and ALWAYS posting a review, and to piggythelaw, Predator the Assasin, . , and JustAnotherCreativeWriter.

I'm in camp, so its really hard to update, but I should be doing chapters more frequently in the summer than I usually do.

Thanks again,

MaraquaGreen


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